These findings support the application of sensory integrative-based occupational therapy as a part of the services provided to some children with PDD. Further research is needed to replicate these findings and to isolate the effects of sensory integrative-based occupational therapy because both participants were receiving other interventions at the time of this study.
Nine children with the Williams syndrome were evaluated for physical, neurodevelopmental, and behavioral characteristics to record the natural history of this disorder. The study subjects, who ranged in age from 10 years to 20 years, generally showed lower than expected cognitive functioning with four of the nine functioning in the severely retarded range. However, all the children showed uneven developmental profiles, compared to measured IQ, with reading abilities exceeding the expected level and visual-motor skills deficient for overall performance expectations. All but one child had evidence of supravalvular aortic stenosis on echocardiography, but there was little morbidity from cardiovascular disease in this group of patients. Although all had grown at or below the fifth percentile in early childhood, seven now were above the fifth percentile for height. Personality attributes that characterize younger children with Williams syndrome persisted in this group of older children.
There may be important differences in the interactions of father-infant dyads compared with mother-infant dyads, but further research with a larger, more representative sample of fathers on this parent-infant interaction measure is warranted to support this. The development of normative scores for fathers and their infants is recommended to accurately interpret father-infant interactions when administering the NCAST Teaching scale.
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